


POW Con 201X

by 3wisellamas



Category: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
Genre: AU where everything is beautiful nothing hurts and KO still visits his dad on weekends, Conventions, Cosplay, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:22:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22552462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3wisellamas/pseuds/3wisellamas
Summary: After finding out they both share a love of POW cards, Professor Venomous takes his kids to a POW card convention to help them bond.Based on a conversation from the Villains' Night Out Discord server!
Relationships: Fink & K.O. (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes), Lord Boxman/Professor Venomous
Comments: 12
Kudos: 113





	POW Con 201X

It hadn't taken more than a few weekends of staying with his father at Boxmore for KO to find out he had one big thing in common with Fink.

"I didn't even know you collected POW cards until this morning!" Fidgeting with his seatbelt, he smiled across the seats at her. "I guess every kid my age has a bunch!"

"Not as much as you, ya nerd…" Fink refused to look at the young hero, instead staring intently out the window as she spoke. "But...yeah. I throw away all the hero cards, but I got tons of villains! And...now lots of Chip Damage cards, since he's a villain I guess."

"Well, after finding out he wasn't the hero I thought he was, it just didn't feel right to keep them." He sighed. "And I didn't wanna volcano them either, since they took a long time to get in the first place. So, I wanted you to have them!"

"Thanks. I guess." Finally, she glanced over at him. "And, since you collect 'em too, I could see if there's any I could give you. I got doubles of all the robots…"

She stuck out her tongue at KO. "Not to be nice or anything though! Just 'cause you gave me all your cards, and Boss says that I gotta be fair…" KO had learned quickly enough that Fink NEVER did anything out of niceness, or so she claimed, but it was easy enough to see the shreds of gratitude shining through her act.

"Well…" He thought for a moment. "I don't have any of Raymond. Or Lord Cowboy Darrell."

"Shoot, I don't have any o' him either, just regular Darrell." The two glanced up at the robot sitting between them in the back seat of Professor Venomous' car, dressed in that very cowboy costume. He didn't respond, content simply to eavesdrop on his younger stepsiblings' conversation in between yawns as the long ride started to slowly lull him to sleep.

"And I also don't have you, Fink." He smiled. "I just never found one. But, since I guess we're siblings now, I'd really love to have one if you have an extra!"

"We're not siblings. But, maybe when we get there I can get ya one at the POW card machine up front, along with a Raymond." She glanced over again, taking in the costume he wore instead of his usual attire. "Maybe even one of the limited-edition ones where he's wearin' something as stupid-lookin' as you!"

With all of his new stepsiblings', assistance, KO had managed to construct quite an impressive costume for himself -- a poofy purple wig and a pair of ankle boots he'd borrowed from Shannon, a replica Gar's Bodega crop top that Darrell had sewed to fit him, a simple pair of pipe cleaner antennae that Fink had begrudgingly contributed, and a pair of pink jeans, the exact source of which Raymond adamantly refused to reveal. It was the best elements of both of KO's best friends combined, and he couldn't wait to show it off!

"I still don't get why we gotta wear these dumb costumes to the grocery store," Fink complained.

Roused from his attempted nap by the comment, Darrell huffed, crossing his arms. "It was either we all wore costumes, or I wasn't coming!"

"You don't even like goin' to the grocery store though!" Fink tried once again to get into a more comfortable position in her booster seat, which wasn't helped by her seatbelt repeatedly getting stuck in the collar of the oversized lab coat she'd stolen from her boss. "And besides, don't you usually wear your stupid sailor suit out?"

"I was in more of a cowboy mood today," Darrell replied, lazily sinking back into his own. "This one's more comfortable to walk a lot in, anyway."

"We're only gonna be there ten minutes, ya big dummy!" Fink smacked his shoulder, the leather loudly popping under the impact.

"Well, ten minutes of walking is still walking, ya little shrimp!" He roughly poked his stepsister in retaliation, getting a pink gloved slap to the face for his efforts. "Okay, that's it!"

"Hey, what are you-!" Fink yelped in surprise as Darrell suddenly pounced on her from his seat, his violent poking suddenly replaced by harmless tickling, which nonetheless seemed to do even more damage as she half-giggled, half-shrieked at him. "Stop it, stop it!!"

"It's no use fighting me anymore Fink, now that I've learned you organics' greatest weakness!"

"NO!!" 

If one didn't know Fink better, they would assume the normally-sour rat girl was in embarrassing ticklish hell, and that once she finally recovered Darrell would be utterly destroyed, but she eventually stopped weakly pushing his hands away and instead hugged him, still laughing wildly as her big brother returned it, squeezing her tight. KO was truly stunned by just how close his two stepsiblings already were on their own, and how little he understood why -- hadn't they been at each other's throats only a few months ago, even forgetting to fight him and his friends because of it? When had that suddenly turned into them being best friends?

He was getting closer to them as well, he hoped, and his other stepsiblings and Lord Boxman and his father, slowly bonding with his new family little by little with each weekend he spent with them, but it still wasn't anywhere near what they had yet. It just took time, he understood, remembering how long it had taken for him to become as close as he had with his own friends. 

He had even made quite a big sacrifice that week in order to spend that necessary time with them, skipping POW Con, the annual POW card and general hero convention he always looked forward to each year and which happened to take place that very weekend. And skipping the chance to work with his friends at the Gar's Bodega booth there, at that! But it was worth it, he decided, even as he clapped his hands over his ears once Fink and Darrell continued their play-fight, their screeching laughter reaching its loudest point yet.

"Guys, let's settle down and ride quietly again." Professor Venomous didn't bother to even look back, by this point used to the Boxman brood's constant sibling squabbles. "At least until we get to the 'grocery store,' alright?"

KO couldn't be sure, but for only a brief moment, he swore he saw Darrell give a strange look up towards the car's rear-view mirror as he leaned back in his seat once again, which Venomous' reflection returned just as quickly.

"Okay, so, here's the plan." Not noticing a thing, Fink leaned in towards KO, whispering, and took a second to glance up at the red robot whose lap she was precariously hovering over. "And this doesn't leave the back seat, so keep your big mouth shut this time ya bucket o' bolts!"

Darrell obediently nodded, and Fink continued.

"When we get to the frozen foods section and I give the signal, you trip on a bag of peas and twist your ankle, and cry as loud as you can! And when Boxboss asks what you want so you'll stop already, you tell 'im you want the good ice cream, with the chocolate and marshmallow and candy mixed in!"

Without his usual sweatband to catch it, a bead of sweat made its way down KO's forehead. "I...don't really like that plan, Fink."

"Well, ya don't  _ really _ have to twist your ankle, you can just fake it..." She grinned evilly. "Or I can  _ help _ you twist it for real if ya want..."

"You know we can both hear you back there, right Fink? Darrell doesn't even need to tattle this time." Boxman peered back between the front seats at the kids, his messy wig barely staying in place. For whatever reason, his costume consisted of little more than that wig, even colored the same as his real hair but more full, and a rusty, non-functional junkfish prop he held on his lap. "And no, we're not buying that expensive ice cream, so don't even try it."

"But, but..." She folded her arms, pouting. "Nuts..."

Venomous glanced back at her in his mirror. "He's right, we're not playing any of those games today. But when you have enough of your own money, you can buy whatever ice cream you want. Deal?"

"Deal!" She turned back to KO. "I think I got a few other plans..."

"I hope I don't have to get hurt this time..." He wanted the expensive ice cream too, but it certainly wasn't worth that.

"Nah, we're just gonna sell Darrell for scrap."

"Wait, what?" The robot shoved Fink off of him, but she just giggled, glancing out the window.

At the grocery store, speeding off into the distance behind them. 

"Uh, Boss? You just passed the store." 

Venomous didn't respond, so she tried again, her voice rising in volume. "Boss, you passed the store! We're goin' the wrong way!" His reflection in the mirror only smiled back at her, and so she reached across the seats once more and poked KO in the shoulder.

"KO, make your dad turn around!"

"He's your dad too!" Unsure of where exactly the family was headed, he anxiously glanced up at Darrell, who was stifling laughter, for an answer that wouldn't come.

"He's my  _ boss _ ," Fink corrected him, kicking the back of Venomous' seat, which finally got his attention.

"Fink, what did I say about kicking the seats in this car?!" He still refused to take his eyes off the road, thankfully, but the urge was clearly there as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel and glared into the rear view mirror.

"You passed the store!" Fink pointed at the window, panicked, and when Venomous responded with silence again she gave up, resorting to just screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Fink, that's enough!" Boxman turned back to the kids, snarling. "We'll get there when we get there!"

"We'll get  _ where? _ " Fink finally noticed Darrell's suspicious behavior, and growled at him, holding up her fist. "You're in on this, aren't you? Fess up or I'll punch your brain right outta that dome of yours!" The robot secured his hat tightly onto his head and whimpered a little at the gruesome threat, but refused.

"Fink, uh, I'm okay with going to a different store, if that's what our dads wanna do." KO smiled nervously, trying to hide his own concerns for her benefit. "I just hope Ernesto and the others don't get lost…"

"They know where we're going, don't worry." Venomous glanced over at Boxman, the two sharing a moment of quiet, sinister laughter at their rapidly-unfolding scheme, which admittedly didn't reassure the kids at all.

" _ Bosses, _ " Fink quietly corrected her brother one last time, and the car remained silent for the rest of the trip, until Venomous finally pulled into a large, extremely crowded parking lot.

"Wait, is this…?" KO caught the sign as his father scanned for an empty space. "Lakewood Convention Center! I didn't know they had a grocery store here!"

"They don't, dummy…" Fink lightly kicked Venomous' seat again, but he let the transgression against his precious car slide, as he paused in his search.

"Psst, Box, what about there? They've got one of those 'My child is an honor student at POINT Prep Academy' stickers."

Boxman groaned in disgust, rolling down his window and pulling out a rocket launcher that had obviously been constructed from spare pieces of his robots. "It's perfect."

One needlessly-massive explosion later, the only thing left of the car was that sticker, which Venomous was sure to stomp a few times with his heavy boots after he parked right in its now-empty space. 

"I'm...sorry about that, KO," he hurriedly explained as his son got out of the car with him. "I know we had that talk about us not doing anything "evil" with you around…"

"It's okay. To be honest, the honors program at POINT Prep...kind of deserves it." KO looked up at his father, examining what had to be the most impressive costume among them -- he had in fact pulled out the actual costume he'd been wearing the night he disappeared as Laserblast, the singed and tattered spandex jumpsuit since mended and even altered to fit his slimmer physique. The only thing missing was his old helmet, which Venomous pulled out of the car, along with a backpack he passed to Boxman.

"This...is going to be hilarious."

"Whadda ya mean, Boss?" Fink shouted up at him. "You said if you ever wore that outfit in public you'd be in trouble, so where the heck are we that it's  _ funny? _ "

"Why don't you take a look for yourself?" A big banner hung across the front entrance of the convention center, which he pointed out to the children, and their eyes went wide.

"POW Con 201X?!" A few tears of joy fell down KO's face, as he and Fink looked between the sign, and Venomous and Boxman. "I thought it sold out already!"

"Well, I managed to get us all in anyway," Venomous replied, passing the two their very own tickets with a smile. With the tickets in their hands, the children's excitement only grew, as did their father's pride at successfully putting together such a well-received surprise. He didn't dare tell them that he'd bought the last 500 tickets himself and intentionally sold out the event to facilitate that surprise, though at least the proceeds he'd made reselling the extras would buy plenty of con swag for the whole family.

"One more thing I guess, before we go…" He pulled the helmet over his head, easily adjusting to the familiar stifling foam and limited field of vision even after all these years. Through the tinted visor, he focused down onto his son, who gazed up at him with barely-visible sparkles in his eyes. 

"What's up with that face, KO? You look a little starstruck."

KO beamed. "I just can't believe I'm gonna go to POW Con with Laserblast himself! I've dreamed about this since I was 2-5 years old!" He hopped a little, not even bothering to hide how giddy he was. "Fink, can you pinch me? I gotta make sure I'm not still dream-OW!!" The boy recoiled away from her as, taking full advantage of the invitation, she pinched him a little too hard.

"KO...maybe don't say that too loud, even around here, okay?" He made sure to lead the family along a relatively deserted path towards the building, weaving between the cars. "Today I'm only  _ dressed _ as Laserblast. I'm not  _ really _ him, do you understand?"

Darrell poked the top of his head. "We're cosplaying, get it?" The robot smiled wide, clearly excited about the chance to share one of his favorite hobbies with his new stepsiblings.

"Ooh…" It had taken KO a few years before he realized that the many attendees dressed as all his favorite heroes weren't actually the real deal, simply fans just as he was, but now that he was 6-11 he had a handle on the concept. Still, though, he wasn't sure if literally cosplaying as yourself changed that...

"And in case anyone asks, I'm not  _ really _ Lad Boxman, either!" Lord Boxman chuckled a little, holding up the old junkfish he carried at his side and running his chicken claw through his green wig -- he'd definitely missed having all that hair. "Well, I was, but no one needs to know that!"

"No one asked you Boxbutt." He frowned, scooping Fink up as the girl trailed behind them, the oversized lab coat proving to be a poor costume choice as she found it much more difficult to walk around it.

To their surprise, the rest of the family was already waiting at the door, with Ernesto waving them closer -- he was the only one who had actually chosen to cosplay as someone specific, some very old villain from 196X, the golden days of mustache-twirling and tying hostages to railroad tracks and cheating in wacky races, dressed in a purple duster coat, a striped hat, and of course the requisite mustache. Unfortunately, no one except Ernesto himself actually recalled the villain's name, and even KO didn't have a POW card that old. 

The other robots' costumes became increasingly less complex, from Jethro strangely disguised as one of his non-uplifted selves, complete with tank treads taped to his legs and a spare exhaust pipe looped over his existing one; to Mikayla dressing as her own humansona, who happened to look exactly like her except bipedal and wearing a T-shirt; to Shannon simply covering herself in a coat of purple paint; to Raymond, who hadn't even bothered at all, preferring to just wear one of his Raymond's Way shirts instead.

"You guys are already here?" PV asked, more as an observation than a genuine question, though Ernesto couldn't help but reply anyway.

"Oh, we were lucky enough to find a space pretty close to the door." He smiled, as much as he could anyway. "I see you had no trouble finding a space as well!"

"Yeah, 'finding' a space…" Boxman and PV glanced at each other, knowingly.

"I am Jethro!" As KO approached, Jethro giggled a little. "I gotcha, didn't I? You thought I was one o' my brothers!"

"That's pretty good!" He took in all the others' costumes, jumping up and down in excitement. "You all look so cool!"

"And you look like...twice as much of a Lakewood Loser," Shannon replied, but with an intense look from her father she quickly added to her evaluation. "But n-nothing wrong with that, it looks great!" She scooped up Jethro and turned to the door. "Let's just get inside."

\---

The first thing the family saw inside the convention center's doors, before any of the POW card booths or panels or endless throngs of heroes, was a security station, complete with a metal detector and a table for checking cosplay weapons to make sure they weren't dangerous. "Better safe than sorry!" a big poster on one wall read. Venomous, KO, and Fink made it through without incident, though the latter did have to give up a laser gun she'd stuffed into her pocket, but once they were through a deafening beeping echoed throughout the room, and they turned to see a mortified Boxman emerging from the metal detector.

"I told you, it doesn't come off," he snapped at one of the security guards as he tapped a claw to the metallic part of his head. The guard reluctantly accepted this, and exchanged his ticket for the junkfish he'd placed in a tray to the side, but everyone stopped a second time when they realized it was now Ernesto's turn.

"You know what, we're just gonna…" One of the guards simply unplugged the still-wailing metal detector, and they let Ernesto go through uncontested, as well as the rest of the robots, until they got to Shannon at the back of the line, with Jethro held tightly in her arms.

"Hold it, stop right there." He held out his hand in front of her, stopping the robot in her tracks. "I can't let the two of you through."

"Oh don't worry, Jethro's got his ticket!"

"I'm not talking about the kid." The guard pointed to another poster, with a picture of Shannon straight out of Boxmore's sales catalog. "The individual known only as 'Shannon' and all similar robots are forbidden from POW card events, due to hacking incidents in the past." He squinted, examining her more closely. "Even in costume."

Shannon gulped. But, all hope was not lost -- she regained her composure quickly, erasing any trace of guilt from her expression as she loaded into memory the perfectly-planned scheme she'd concocted earlier.

"Oh, but I'm not her! I'm just, erm,  _ cosplaying _ the Shannon virus that took down the servers!" 

She pulled out her POW card, which had been heavily altered, with clothing and accessories and haphazard-looking makeup scribbled onto it in crayon, and with a tiny piece of paper taped over part of her name. "It's a really convincing costume, isn't it? Here's what I really look like." The guard scanned it suspiciously, mentally processing it, the poster, and the crudely-painted robot in front of him, and eventually handed her card back to her.

"I see, Miss…'Jannon.' Apologies for the misunderstanding." He took the tickets from both her and Jethro, and led them through the security station into the convention.

"Phew…" Shannon stowed the card away, and proudly joined the rest of her family. "I guess I'm way smarter than all these losers!"

Still nestled in her grip, Jethro cleared his metallic throat. "Uh, Sister Shannon, couldn't you have just shapeshifted into somethin' else, and not get stopped at all?"

She glared down at him.

"I-I mean, uh...I am Jethro!" They hurried inside to meet the others near a convenient vacant booth close to the door, with nothing but a table inside.

"What was that about?" Boxman asked her as they approached. "Are you actually banned from this thing?"

"I may or may not have...exploited a backdoor in their system once." Shannon blushed, the color barely visible under the paint. "And...took over all their servers as a virus."

"That's my girl!" He patted Shannon's shoulder, as she sighed in relief.

KO took a few moments to look around the big, busy room, completely in awe despite it being far from his first time there. "Isn't this place amazing?" He smiled over at Fink, who somehow seemed even more fascinated than him by the place. "I used to come every single year with my mommy!"

"Well, I never been!" she shouted over the constant hum of the crowd. "Boss never wanted to bring me, until I guess Boxboss made him do it today!"

KO smiled at her and grabbed her hand, which for once his sister didn't violently reject. "Come on, I'll show you all the best stuff, okay?"

"Hang on, kids." Ernesto patted both their heads, to get their attention. "We don't want you two wandering around this place all by yourselves, so stay with the group."

Finally setting Jethro down to be with his similarly-aged stepsiblings, Shannon interrupted her brother. "Wait a sec...what if we just go with 'em? After all, KO's the expert, and I'm sure our dads could use a break anyway."

Fink put her hands on her hips, letting the empty sleeves hang down. "Well, where's our first stop, 'expert?'"

"Let's see…" He glanced around, analyzing the floor's layout as best he could, and pointed to an aisle of booths that seemed relatively empty. "There's usually lots of villain-themed booths over there! I know you might like those, Fink!"

A tiny smile crept across her face. "Lead the way, nerd."

Behind them at the empty booth, Professor Venomous' entire attention was on the crowds passing by, as he mentally calculated the perfect moment to carry out his plan.

"Are you sure you actually wanna do that, PV?" Boxman nervously tapped his fingers together. "I mean, is it really worth it?"

"It will be, Box. I've been wanting to do this for a long, long time…" He stepped up onto the table, clearing his throat as he prepared to shout across the convention floor.

"Hey, everyone, I have a very important announcement to make!" Venomous couldn't help but inject a jovial tone into his voice, enticing a small crowd of convention-goers closer. He fiddled with the helmet, pressing the button that so many years ago would have fired a deadly laser right into an unfortunate villain -- but thanks to Boxman's tinkering it now only shone a harmless laser pointer beam.

"I, Laserblast, never died after all! I've secretly been in hiding this whole time, waiting for the day I could finally return to the spotlight and all my adoring fans!" He struck a heroic pose purely from memory and the audience cheered, though far from the response such a declaration would have gotten anyplace else in the Neutral Zone.

"That's a fantastic costume, dude!" one attendee commented as the crowd chattered amongst themselves, before a few of them began to lose interest and return to wandering the convention floor. The attendee fistbumped him, grinning. "You've even got his voice spot-on, I woulda thought you really were Laserblast if he were purple!"

The crowd dispersed completely, and with only his husband's eyes remaining on him Venomous knelt down, his lips pursed as he tried unsuccessfully to stifle his laughter, until it all burst out into pure hysteria.

"PV?" His giggling only grew louder, with a little unconscious hissing sneaking in as he struggled to breathe over his own amusement, prompting an anxiously-smiling Boxman to run his claws up and down his back and speak in a more hushed tone. "Venomous, come on, we talked about this..."

Still quite pleased with the response to his stunt, but his giggle fit quickly subsiding, PV looked up at him. "Okay...I'm sorry." He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. It was just...so worth it, finally getting all that out of my system!"

"Yeah, I know." The two looked out across the floor, and at all the attendees who now paid Venomous exactly as little attention as they had before. 

"Now, PV, serious question. Where are Fink and KO? And the robots, too?"

Though the helmet gave nothing away, the professor's eyes were suddenly the size of dinner plates. He'd gotten so caught up in his own fun he hadn't even realized that he and Boxman were now completely alone!

Quickly, he dug his phone out of his bag, texting the third entry he came to in his contacts, after Boxman and Carol. 

"Are you guys all together? Also where are you? Should have asked that first."

It didn't take long for Darrell to respond: "yeah! fink and ko waned 2 lokk at a villian booth. well wach them so u giys can have fun!!" Venomous sighed in relief, but made a mental note to buy some elementary-level spelling and grammar textbooks for the robots.

"Well, with the kids off having fun, I suppose we've got this whole place to ourselves, PV." Boxman grinned up at his masked partner. "Where to first?"

He thought for a few moments, coming up empty -- the convention was far too chaotic for him to even begin to think straight. "I think maybe finding a few villain panels would be the best place to start. These cards are their thing, not mine."

\---

"There's so much here…" Reluctantly, Fink clung to her brother's hand as he led her from booth to booth, with the robots in tow, taking in the variety of sights, sounds, and experiences of the floor: a showcase of new and upcoming villain cards, several booths for hero movies and comic books, countless hand-customized POW card display binders, a POINT Prep Academy "recruitment" booth, vintage card sales and collectors simply showing off their stashes, and even a booth for human enthusiasts, where Mikayla gladly spent a few minutes catching up with her friends. Naturally, there were a few POW card machines tucked in between the aisles, and Fink printed off a copy of her card for KO, and also dragged Raymond over to get one of him as well.

Finally, they stopped at a booth proudly displaying several of the rarest POW cards in existence, each enclosed in a thick glass frame and tied down with wire to prevent them from being stolen.

"I wonder why I'm getting so many compliments on my costume…" Darrell leaned onto the table, his eye drifting across the frames but not really registering any of the cards within. "I've never even gotten one before!"

"I believe I can explain," a small voice suddenly called out from underneath the table covering, and its owner carefully emerged, with KO especially pleased to see such a familiar face.

"Dendy!" At the next booth over, a bunch of small children cheered as some C-list superhero started passing out autographs.

"With the POW card company deciding to print another run of Shadowy Figure, the limited-edition Lord Cowboy Darrell card has surpassed it, and even the little-known 199X villainess Black Lotus, to become the rarest and most sought-after villain card in existence!" She pointed up to one of the cards encased in its frame, and brought up a holographic screen, showing its statistics and current price data. 

"That's so much money..." Fink tugged at Darrell's sleeve. "Let's go back to the POW card machine! If you hit the 'Self' button a buncha times we'll have a million of 'em! Then KO and me can keep two, and sell the rest for ice cream!"

He just shrugged. "It was a limited edition, Fink. If I go up to one of those machines now it'll just spit out a regular me."

Fink scowled up at the card on display again. "I'll get my hands on it someday..."

"If you are interested," Dendy interrupted her, "I foresaw this development due to my extensive research of the POW card economy, and did manage to obtain a double before they rose in price." The kappa adjusted her goggles, a surprisingly menacing smirk spreading across her face. "Perhaps we can make a trade?"

Fink thought for a moment, and dramatically pointed towards her. "You're on, sister! I'm bringin' all my new limited-edition holofoil Chip Damage cards to school on Monday!"

"You will have to do better than that..." She pointed again up to her screen, at the collective value of all Chip Damage cards, which had recently fallen dramatically. "...' _ sister _ .'"

Fink growled, and stomped away from the booth, but KO caught her in a gentle hug. "You'll get one someday, Fink!" He smiled, squeezing tighter as she tried to wiggle free. "I used to really want a Professor Venomous card way before I found out he was my dad, but it was so rare I'd only ever seen it online. But then, one day my mom bought me a pack of cards, and it was right in there!"

"And then you traded it to me in exchange for five of those limited-edition Chip Damage POW cards, and one Space Dragon-form Cosma," Dendy added.

"And then you traded it back to me for your Lord Cowboy Darrell double!" KO gave a wide, accomplished grin, while Fink facepalmed.

Though KO invited Dendy to join them as they moved on, she elected to stay at the rare card booth instead to do more research, and he and Fink rejoined the robots only a short distance away.

"Who would have expected  _ you _ to actually become marginally famous?" Raymond almost looked a shade greener in the lighting, as he scowled at his older brother.

Shannon passed Jethro to one of the siblings staying well out of the robo-teens' argument, an equally jealous expression on her face. "Yeah, and just because they didn't make enough of your dang card when you ran Boxmore..."

"Guys, I'm not famous..." Despite his own claim, Darrell looked wistfully back at the booth as he plodded down the aisle with his siblings, but suddenly a small voice caught his attention.

"Um...excuse me...?" The robot turned around, seeing nothing but endless swarms of people behind him, but then upon glancing down towards the voice's source spotted a small girl wearing an equally-tiny cowboy hat. 

"Can...Can I take a picture with your costume, Mister?" She offered up her phone to Darrell, pleading with her eyes. "Lord Cowboy Darrell is my friend and I's favorite limited-edition villain, and since she couldn't get a ticket I really wanna show her!"

Glancing uncomfortably at the others, Darrell straightened out his jacket and hat, and knelt down to pose with the girl while Shannon gladly took the phone and snapped the picture. Upon seeing it, the girl whooped with glee.

"Wow, you really look so much like his card!" She pulled out the ultra-rare card, obviously played-with despite its value, with the picture slightly faded and the edges wrinkled and smudged. "I can't wait to show my friend, and make her think I really met him!"

Darrell paused for a second, a mischievous thought running through his processor, and grinned down at her, evilly, but not so much as to frighten her. "He's my favorite limited-edition villain too, obviously. Is it cool if I take a look at that card a second?" 

Smiling, she handed him the card, and Darrell studied it intently for a few seconds...then to the little girl's horror he stood out of her reach and whipped a marker out of his pocket, scribbling right onto the card's face.

Too stunned to react, the girl whined, threatening to cry as this mean jerk ruined her favorite card right in front of her, but Darrell quickly knelt back down, revealing that he'd crudely signed his own name right below his picture.

Slipping into an overly-exaggerated Southern drawl, he smiled at her as he passed it back. "Sorry 'bout gettin' ya goin' like that Little Miss, I jus' figured I'd give y'all a li'l more'n just a story ta tell..." He flashed her a toothy grin, making sure that the polished titanium of his teeth glinted in the overhead lights, and forced the camera lens in his eye to refocus, causing a distinctive mechanical whirring from the servos within his head. "Jus' keep it on the down-low for me, alright pardner?"

"O...Okay!" Still in shock, the little girl nodded, as she gradually realized the person in front of her wasn't just a man in a robot cowboy supervillain costume after all. She finally sped off, gripping her prize tight, and Darrell watched her disappear back into the crowd.

"That. Was the coolest thing. That has ever happened to me," he whispered. Without warning he jumped at his nearest sibling, who happened to be Shannon, hugging her as he cheered. "I'M ACTUALLY FAMOUS!"

"Yeah, to two little kids and a bunch of rare POW card nerds," she clarified, but hugged him back regardless. "But, we're proud of you, Darrell. I guess."

Behind his back as he dashed ahead, Shannon whispered to Raymond, "Prank number 384, his room, tonight. You bring the glue." Raymond understood her instructions perfectly, and gave a quick salute.

\---

"I can't believe Dr Weakpoint cancelled the panel..." Boxman lightly kicked at the carpet below him as he followed closely behind his husband, lest he get lost in the crowd, even lunging forward to grip his hand as a group of other Laserblast cosplayers passed by. Venomous averted his gaze from them, keeping his visor fixed forward, and Boxman's hand held tight.

"I brought these tomatoes to throw and everything," he explained as, confident he was still speaking to the right Laserblast once the others were gone, he pulled out a few of the things from his backpack. 

Raising a hidden eyebrow at the fact that he'd managed to smuggle fresh produce onto the convention floor, PV sighed, Boxman's frustration infecting him as well. "I know, leaving Steamborg to run the panel instead?  _ Steamborg? _ So unprofessional..."

"To think that was someone I even used to look up to when I was a young villain..." He pawed at his junkfish, deflated. "Heh, when I was...this, in fact." 

He stood in front of Venomous, emphasizing his costume. "Dr Weakpoint was the one who inspired me to strike out on my own as a villain in the first place!"

"So Lad Boxman really wanted to be just like that unprofessional old weirdo, who relies entirely on cheaply-built robots to do all the dirty work?" He couldn't help but snicker.

"Hard to believe, huh?" Boxman put his hands on his hips, shaking his head. "I think I did it better, actually."

He didn't receive a reply. "PV? I did it better, right?"

"Oh, of course!" Venomous' focus snapped back to him for a moment. "Sorry, I just...think I have to see this."

Boxman followed him to a nearby booth, where sample cards were spread across the table under banners depicting an amorphous, smiling blue blob in a plastic container.

"They really gave Blorby a POW card?"

"It's a special promotion to boost sales!" The teenager at the booth smiled. "The cards are probably worth more than Blorby itself, admittedly…"

"That fad really went fast, didn't it?" Venomous looked over the card one final time, then placed it back onto the table. "Just two months, about as long as it took the gel to harden and for them to stop jiggling. My minion was devastated."

A shocked Boxman caught his attention as Venomous led him away from the table. "Wait, you bought Fink a Blorby?" 

"Yeah, that Super Black Friday they went on sale. Though, I didn't exactly  _ buy _ it…" He sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. "We held up a toy store in Neo Riot City that night. It was a surprisingly good family bonding activity, maybe we can all do it together this year."

Boxman internally grimaced at the thought of anything to do with that hyper-capitalist mockery of a holiday, but agreed anyway. It had to be better than spending the day after Shucksgiving rebuilding his kids after they were pummeled into the ground by Principal Claus again.

"Hey, great costume!" Venomous turned around just as an exact copy of his gray leather glove was shoved into his face, which he eventually high-fived. Attached to it was yet another Laserblast cosplayer, whose own costume, helmet, and physique were near-pristine, an almost perfect copy of the man he'd been 6-11 years ago. He even had a red lollipop in his mouth.

"As is yours," PV commented, giving his best attempt at an amused chuckle. He'd lost track of all the Laserblasts he'd tried not to see too closely since arriving at the convention, but this one definitely stood out. "I take it you're a...fan, too?"

"Absolutely!" He smiled, and finally the illusion of looking into a mirror was shattered in PV's mind -- that smile was much too wide to be his. "Man, wasn't Laser the best hero ever? I wonder how awesome he'd be today if he hadn't been blown up or shrunk or teleported or whatever!"

Venomous laughed uncomfortably. "Y-Yeah, me too…"

"What about mine?" Boxman snuck in between the two Laserblasts. "Pretty authentic as well, don't you think?"

"...I'm sorry, who are you dressed up as?"

He posed proudly, holding up his junkfish for dramatic effect. "Why, I'm Lad Boxman!" His face dropped as he realized his listener had only become more confused at the name. "The villain? That used to try and destroy POINT every week?"

"I don't think I've ever heard of a villain named that. Definitely never seen his POW card…" 

"He used to fight POINT all the time! Even had a little…'rivalry' going with Laserblast for a while!" He glanced back at PV, and the sudden blush on the lower half of his face. "How can you be a fan of him and not remember me?"

The cosplayer thought some more, but then seemed to suddenly remember something. "Oh yeah, wasn't he the guy who worked with...geez, what was his name? That robot guy?" He pulled a few POW cards from his pocket, flipping through them until he reached the one he sought. "Mr Logic, that was it! Wasn't Lad Boxman his sidekick before he decided to become a hero instead?"

At this, steam actually started to pour out of Boxman's ears, and he began to roll up his sleeves in anticipation of a fight. "S-sidekick? Mr...MR LOGIC?! You piece of-!!"

Venomous grabbed the cyborg's shoulders before the situation got even more ugly, and quickly motioned for his doppelganger to continue on his way. He kept Boxman held tight for several minutes, encouraging him to take a few deep, calming breaths, until the transgression against his ego finally worked its way out of his system and his anger slowly faded.

"It's okay Box, I recognize you." He kept his hands put, massaging him a little. "After all, I was there."

Boxman sighed, shaking off the last of his agitation. "That guy wasn't even that great a Laserblast, anyway. He was smiling too big." At this, his husband couldn't help but smile just the right amount.

It didn't last long, though, as his expression fell, and Boxman freed himself to more easily look up at him.

"What?"

"You think Fink and KO are having fun?"

"You said it yourself, PV, this is their thing. They're probably having the time of their lives!" He glanced down at his feet. "You know. Without us."

Reaching up on his toes, he laid a hand on Venomous' shoulder, returning the favor from earlier. "Hey, we've had enough of this place, let's go catch up with the kids. I think I know where they'll probably end up…"

\---

"Mr Gar's booth should be right around this corner, number 307!" Skipping with excitement, KO tugged at Fink's hand a few times. "I can't wait to see what Rad and Enid think of my costume! They're gonna be so impre-"

He peeked around the corner, the booth and a life-sized Mr Gar-shaped balloon floating above it easily coming into view despite all the people clustered around, but it wasn't the booth itself that had silenced KO. Slowly, he made his way towards his friends, taking in their own costumes -- red head and arm bands, blue vests over white tank tops, pink leg warmers, and (to many con attendees' disapproval) no shoes whatsoever. As he admired their expertly-crafted KO costumes, Rad and Enid chuckled, studying their little buddy's own appearance.

"I guess great minds really do think alike, huh KO?" Enid commented, holding back laughter as she couldn't help but stare at his purple wig and ankle boots. Rad's reaction was much less relaxed, hurriedly jumping over the table to catch him in an affectionate noogie, though he respectfully didn't disturb his fake antennae.

Slowly, when Rad gave him a chance to do so, KO finally spoke up. "I knew you guys would be here, but I didn't think you would dress up too!"

"Well, we were planning to walk the floor for a little while like you guys, but that just wasn't gonna happen," Enid explained, motioning for Rad to let the kid go already. "We had to work the booth for Mr Gar in order to even get in here, since some joker bought out the last 500 tickets and scalped 'em online for a ridiculous amount."

"'Scalped 'em?'" KO stared up at her, confused, and Fink chimed in.

"It's when ya buy the last of something a lot of people really want, then sell it online for tons of money! And they'll pay it 'cause they can't get it any other way!" She scoffed. "I wish I'd thought of it, we could finally buy all the good ice cream we want..."

Finally releasing KO from his grip, Rad turned to her, squinting. "The good ice cream? How good we talkin', Squirt?"

Fink scrunched her nose in disapproval for a moment at the nickname. "Extreme Marshmallow Fudge Candy-Topped Explosion."

Rad's face suddenly lit up in recognition. "Dude, they have that flavor at the food court here! Enid and I got some on our one and only break!"

"Really?!" Fink and KO looked at each other, unable to help drooling a little.

"We gotta go find the food court," Fink demanded, dragging KO by the wrist.

"But what about the convention?"

"We seen it all!" She thought for a moment. "And we gotta find our Bosses too, so they can buy it for us!"

"Yeah, where are they, anyway…" KO glanced around the convention floor, or at least the areas he could see from almost the exact center of it.

Somewhere behind them, an old man had actually recognized Ernesto's costume, and the other robots helped them take plenty of pictures.

Next to KO, Fink was staring at another nearby booth, where someone was selling what they claimed were "used gamer guy controllers" for 200 technoes each, which seemed to be turning a few gears inside the rat girl's head.

And down the aisle, headed in their direction were a purple-skinned Laserblast and Lord Boxman in a bad wig.

"Boss, Boss!" Not questioning the perfect timing, Fink rushed right to him, careful not to trip over her costume for approximately the 83rd time that day. "We gotta go to the food court, right now!"

PV giggled. "I guess lunch wouldn't be a bad idea after all this, Fink…" He nodded a greeting to the heroes disguised as his son, confused. "Enid, Radicles."

"Hey there...Professor Venomous?" The two were completely taken aback by his own costume, until he removed the helmet.

"Forgot how stuffy this thing got after a while…" He passed the helmet to his husband to store in his backpack, with Boxman unable to help watching out of the corner of his eye as he wiped sweat off his brow.

An idea suddenly formed in KO's mind. "Enid, Rad, do you guys wanna come with us? We barely got to hang out!"

"Have...lunch? With  _ Lord Boxman? _ " They looked at each other, nervously, then at their cyborg nemesis himself. 

"Yeah!" KO realized that his friends were staring at the villain anxiously, as if they expected him to use that rusty junkfish in his hands on them at any moment. "It's okay, they're not being villains right now, we're all just cosplaying! They're...actually kind of cool." Overhearing his son's words, PV blushed, and glanced down at Boxman, who brought up his hand to hide the ecstatic smile spreading across his face.

"Well," Enid offered, "I guess Mr Gar won't mind if we take a second break..." She shrugged. "Besides, we'll be spending time with KO. That counts as work anyway, right?"

"Oh, totally! I think I read it in the employee handbook!"

"Wait, we have an employee handbook?" Enid mumbled. 

KO ignored her, excited at the prospect of his friends and family coming together. "Great! That's okay with you guys too, right Professor Veno- I mean, Dad?"

"Oh...of course it's fine, KO!" Venomous tried his best to give a genuine, non-threatening smile at his son's friends, uncomfortably curling his lips around his massive, sharp fangs. 

He was joined by Boxman, who mirrored the expression, obvious discomfort and all, as a few beads of sweat ran down his face. "We'd...love to have your... _ f-friends _ , join us…"  _ Nailed it _ , he mused to himself.

Rad tapped his coworker's arm immediately after the supervillains turned away to inform the other children of their plans. "Psst, Enid, are we about to get murdered?"

"Definitely," she responded in the most casual tone she could muster. "If not by Boxman or Professor Venomous, then probably by one of the robots." She pointed out Raymond in the distance, already sharpening his claws as he glared in the alien's direction. 

Rad cracked his knuckles, a faint pink glow flashing around his hands with each pop, as he scanned the area for an empty space to battle his rival on the way to the food court. "Nice."

KO led Fink by the hand yet again as his coworkers closed down their booth and the group all started off, mostly to keep her steady as she still struggled with her lab coat.

"I really had a lot of fun with you today, Fink," he started. "Did you have fun too?"

She responded by suddenly pulling him into a hug. 

"I'm only doin' this to embarrass you in front of your friends! Not to be nice or nothin'," she loudly announced, as KO returned the gesture with a big smile on his face.

"You got me, Fink. I'm super embarrassed," he lied, completing his sister's charade.

"Good!" She then whispered into his ear, so it went completely unheard on the loud convention floor: "Thanks."


End file.
